Amazing Image: Eagle Snatches Crocodile From Riverbank

The African fish eagle's diet usually consists of fish and small mammals, but that's not always the case.

An image shot by a safari guide shows the powerful bird snatching up a juvenile Nile crocodile from the banks of a river in Tanzania.

The fully grown Nile crocodile is one of the most dangerous predators in Africa. Its diet is varied, and includes fish, zebras, cattle, sheep, young hippopotami, birds, other crocodiles and humans, but until it grows to adulthood, the young crocodile is also prey.

Sheridan-Johnson told the paper that he took the photo on his day off.

"I didn't have any clients to take out that day so I was driving in my Land Cruiser looking for interesting wildlife to photograph," he said, adding that he'd never before seen a bird take a crocodile in his nine-year career as a guide.

Another image taken by Sheridan-Johnson shows that the unlucky crocodile had itself been hunting just before it was snatched. The reptile had a fish in its mouth even as the eagle was swooping down upon it.